Finding Aid - World War II in North Dakota

SHSND 0996-04

After the attack on Pearl Harbor, citizens from countries America saw as a threat, such as Japan, Italy, and Germany, were sent to internment camps located around the U.S. Fort Lincoln Internment Camp in Bismarck held nearly 4000 alien internees during WWII. Many North Dakotans served in the military while those on the home front raised victory gardens and worked for service organizations in support of the war effort, feeling it was their responsibility as American citizens.

ARCHIVES HOLDINGS:

10871 Hans J. Jung
Papers, 1943-1945
Correspondence from friends and family of Jung, photographs, newspaper clippings, working papers, and copies of the Bismarck Echo, the newspaper of the Fort Lincoln POW internment camp. Some items have been marked by censors. Issues of the Bismarck Echo also available on CD-ROM as part of this collection. Jung was a German national held first at Camp Forrest, TN, and then at Fort Lincoln, near Bismarck during WWII. (1.5ft)

10902 Ernst J. Pohlig
Papers, 1941-1943
Diary, newspapers, newspaper clippings, ephemera, correspondence, and a photo album of images photographed by Pohlig during WWII while interred at Fort Lincoln POW camp. The images are housed on three cds and are also identified as 2003-P-16. (.25ft)

20998 Toyojiro Suzuki
Papers, 1941-1942
Copies of the diary written by Suzuki while interred at Fort Lincoln, Bismarck, ND, a list of the names of other Japanese internees, citizenship papers, a copy of a postcard sent by Mr. Suzuki, black and white photographs of the camp that were taken by W. C. Robbins, three photographs postcards of Bismarck, and a pennant from Bismarck, ND which was found inside the diary. (.2ft)

21132 Fort Lincoln World War II Internment Camp
1941-2003
Research for the article "Fort Lincoln Enemy Aliens Internment Camp and 'Snow County Prison' Exhibition,'” by Ikumi T. Yanagisawa, published in the book Transnational Identity and Multicultural Society (Tokyo: Akashi Shoten Co. Ltd., 2007). The collection includes the printed article (in Japanese), a copy photograph of Japanese internees, a modern photograph of a Japanese family, German documents from the camp (copies, in German), a copy of an issue of the Bismarck Echo, newspaper clippings documenting the prison camp, "Snow County Prison: Interned in North Dakota" tabloid printed by the Bismarck Tribune documenting the Snow County Prison exhibition (2003-2004), and a National Park Service article printed from the internet about the camp. (.1ft)

1565 Yasuko Kato
45-60 minute cassette
Interview with Yasuko Kato, a Japanese resident of Grand Forks. Conducted in 1987. She relates her experiences as a person of Japanese descent during the WWII period. (91-AV-3)